Skateboard

June Casagrande Dana Wildes might have seen it coming, but she didn't. When a friend gave her son Quinn, then 3, a skateboard last year, the Costa Mesa resident was expecting him to react like any kid his age. Perhaps he would be interested for a little while, perhaps roll the skateboard on the floor like a toy firetruck, maybe sit on it or even stand with someone's help and pretend to really ride. But this was the kid who at 1 1/2 was trying to jump into the deep end of the pool, much to his mother's distressed surprise.

The first time Frank Davern got an order for a girl’s skateboard, he didn’t have one quite ready to ship. In fact, he had never made a skateboard in his life. The Balboa Island resident, who founded the Cool Girl Decks skateboard company four years ago, stumbled upon his enterprise through a happy accident. In the late 1990s, Davern launched the website Coolgrrrls.com to spotlight female musicians around the world. One day, a German magazine devoted to youth culture ran an article about the site — and since the magazine covered sports as well as music, a number of readers assumed Davern made both as well.

The Costa Mesa City Council tonight will consider a number of possible sites for the construction of small skateboard parks throughout the city, following the earlier rejection of a plan to construct a larger one at Lion’s Park. That plan was rejected after the park’s neighbors expressed their opposition last November. Local skateboard manufacturer Jim Gray, president of ABC Board Supply and a strong advocate for city skate parks, said he was disappointed that the original plans fell through, though he continued to support the council in its decision to move forward.

In just its third month, Costa Mesa’s fledgling skateboard instruction program hasn’t yet drawn large crowds of children — a handful of kids carrying skateboards and wearing helmets showed up for the first day of April’s program Tuesday afternoon — but organizers are hoping to develop a following. Unlike previous skateboarding programs the city has put on during the summers and school breaks, the one run by Mike Ogas and Matt Sheridan is more hands-on, they said.

Steve Virgen In regard to in-line skating, Fabiola Da Silva could be called, the queen of the half pipe. If extreme sports were women's tennis, she would be Serena Williams. Da Silva, a Costa Mesa resident, will be one of the most recognizable athletes of X Games IX, the premiere action sports event spearheaded by ESPN that begins today and ends Sunday at Staple Center in Los Angeles. Da Silva, a Brazilian native, is one of six local athletes involved in the extreme sport extravaganza that will be televised and aired Saturday through Thursday, on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. As a female aggressive in-line skater, she has pushed the sport to new limits and is plenty capable of competing alongside the men in the aggressive in-line vert competition.

The Parks and Recreation Commission will evaluate possible locations for “pocket” skateboard park locations, making recommendations to the City Council regarding their construction during its Wednesday meeting. The council suggested the commission look into the possibility of multiple, small projects after they nixed plans for a larger facility in Lion’s Park. The council suggested a short list of possible locations, including Pinkley, Vista, Estancia and Shiffer Parks, though the commission will also consider adding Heller Park to the list, as well as any other parks they think may work well with the plans.

Advance registration is recommended for Costa Mesa’s next summer skateboarding camp, which begins Aug. 25. Kids will have an option of either a half day or a full day of skating at the Volcom Skatepark in Costa Mesa. The program lasts a week and costs $75 for the half day, which runs from 9 a.m. to noon, and an extra $55 for the full day, which ends at 5 p.m. Participants in the full-day program are responsible for bringing their own lunches, and all participants should bring appropriate gear.

Board sports have a huge influence in Newport-Mesa. Not only are many of the major surf- and skate-apparel companies based here, but because the cities are close to the beach and near the mountains, the board-sports lifestyle is a perfect match for people with a Newport or Costa Mesa address. But now there's a new board sport gaining popularity around town. It's called street surfing, and a Newport Beach-based company of the same name has developed a sport that it says takes snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing and puts it into one ridable board.

At Costa Mesa clinic put on by women's skate, surf, snow shop, 18 girls learn a trick or two and how to improve riding and fall with grace.COSTA MESA -- There's nothing like an early morning wipeout to get the juices flowing. Eighteen Girl Scouts from across Orange County were undeterred by the possibility of a scrape or a scab on Saturday as they learned skateboarding skills. The event, held at the Girl Scouts Council of Orange County headquarters in Costa Mesa, was the second skateboarding instructional workshop held this year.

It's a real letdown for me as a Newport Beach resident, and mother of three, to see how our Newport Beach City Council is handling the skateboarding issue. If we're not going to build a skateboard park, then why implement an ordinance that further penalizes skateboarders? ("Newport adds skateboard restrictions," Jan. 24). Do we really believe that posting signs and having our cops chase after our sons is the sensible solution? Let's take a hint from our neighbors in Costa Mesa.

Note to parents who have children riding bikes and skateboards to school: While driving last week in Newport Heights, a number of commuters and I were taking our respective turns at a four-way stop sign. As the other cars stopped to allow me to take my turn, three young girls flew through the stop sign to my right, causing me to immediately slam on my brakes. Fortunately, most of us are hyper-aware of the kids during the morning and afternoon commute, but I strongly encourage parents to remind their children that they are not exempt from adhering to stop signs, no matter what form of transportation they are using.

On day 55 of his journey, Darrian Balongie stopped in Newport Beach to rest and change out his longboard, which had begun to crack from his sometimes rough coast-to-coast voyage. With a 40-pound backpack and bass guitar strapped to his back, the Memphis, Tenn., resident was on the tail end of skateboarding 4,300 miles from New York City to San Diego to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude has a special spot in Balongie's heart: It's the hospital that treated his young cousin so well in the months before his death from acute myelogenous leukemia.

Michael Schmidt of Costa Mesa Middle School outclassed his peers to earn first place in the street competition in the finals of the National Scholastic Skateboarding League at Vans Skatepark in Orange Wednesday night. Schmidt racked up 25.2 points from the judges to edge second-place Kouhei Kito (24.4 points) of Dwyer. The NSSL finale featured high school and middle school teams from Orange County, including Costa Mesa, Estancia, Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor, as well as squads from San Diego.

When 12-year-old Corona del Mar Middle School student Jordan Pratt asked his parents for a trendy new skateboard, he was told that he'd have to work for it, but not by mowing lawns. Jordan could have his skateboard if he helped Diane Pratt, his mother, sell them. "Orange County is such an entrepreneurial breeding ground," said Pratt, owner of Crush Clothing on Balboa Island. "There are so many kids here that have that potential and ability, why not start with my own son?" Jordan selected the merchandise for the first order - an array of popular, brightly colored Penny skateboards - set up shop and waited for customers to roll in. And they did, often asking for Jordan by name and wanting customized specialty boards.

The U.S. Open of Surfing kicked off Saturday at the Huntington Beach Pier with plenty of sunshine but small waves. Junior men surfed their first and second rounds Saturday, and the men's qualifying rounds begin Sunday, along with the junior women's event. An Assn. of Surfing Professional event, the U.S. Open has registered 30 of the top 32 Men's ASP World Tour surfers. The contest runs through Aug. 5. Next to the pier is a small village of exhibitors, skate parks, a concert stage and bleachers to watch the waves.

Christian Hosoi had it all. Long before he was legally old enough to drink, the skateboarder nicknamed "Christ" was a stud on the pro circuit who was touted as an emerging rival to the legendary Tony Hawk. Hosoi's fame brought him a lot of money, parties and girls, but he also rode his board into a downward spiral of substance abuse that eventually landed him in prison. The skateboarder known for his "Christ Air" move has since reformed himself as a Huntington Beach resident and pastor at The Sanctuary church in Westminster.

Michael Schmidt of Costa Mesa Middle School and Franky Villani of Costa Mesa High were among those honored during the National Scholastic Skateboarding League awards banquet May 18. The NSSL concluded its third season at Hurley's corporate office in Costa Mesa with its annual dinner and fundraiser. The students from Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine and San Clemente schools took home top honors in individual and overall standings accumulated over the past five months. Schmidt was the top skater in the overall standings for middle school.

ORANGE — With his backspins, big jumps off of the sides of the wooden ramps and attacks of large rails Wednesday night at Vans Skatepark, Huntington Beach sophomore skateboarder Chris Chavaria took home a shiny medal. Wearing a helmet, T-shirt and shorts, Chavaria rode his trusty skateboard to a narrow victory in the street finals of the National Scholastic Skateboarding League indoors at The Outlets at Orange. The 16-year-old from Garden Grove rode nearly all sides of a large course that included big ramps, rails, wooden boxes and several jumps.

SATURDAY Flea Market The Pelican Courtyard Open Air Flea Market for New and Vintage Finds is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month .The event is at 124 Tustin Ave, Mariners Mile section of Newport Beach. For more information, visit http://www.thepelicancourtyard.com. IDI Open House The Interior Designers Institute will have an Open House from 10 a.m. to noon at its campus, 1061 Camelback St., Newport Beach. For more information, call (949) 675-4451 or go to http://www.idi.edu.

COSTA MESA - Students from 10 different Orange County and San Diego teams kicked off the National Scholastic Skateboarding League's season at Volcom's outdoor skatepark in Costa Mesa on Jan. 27. The first of two rounds saw teams from Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Newport Harbor, Northwood, East Lake and El Toro high schools compete in street course and bowl categories. In the middle school bracket, competitors from Dwyer, St. Edward's, Ensign and Costa Mesa rounded out the evening.